ITtt DOMESTIC AXLMALS. 



American Merinos, and other imported and native breeds, as to render 

 it difficult to find one of pure breed ; yet careful breeders have generally 

 sncli £>ood stocks, that it is questioned by good authority, whether the 

 admixture, after all, has deteriorated the Saxons among us, — that 

 crossing with Merinos has a tendency to increased hardiness in the 

 animal, without in any important degree affecting the fineness of the 

 wool staple. 



The wool of the American Saxons is much finer tlian that of Ameri- 

 can Merinos, their fleeces average from two or two and a quarter to three 

 pounds.' They are relatively tender, requiring more protection and care 

 than any other imported sliecp. They are not as long-lived as the 

 Merinos, do not fatten as well, nor consume as much food. Their lambs 

 are less vigorous and require more care to rear them. 



The A'ew Leicester, or Bakewell. — It was about the middle of the last 

 century that Mr. Bakewell, of Dishley in Leicestershire, first applied him- 

 self to the improvement of the old Leicesters. This old breed had many 

 good points, yet it had its defects, and these of no trilling character ; it 

 was large, heavy, and coai'se-grained, the mutton having 1 ttle flavor, and 

 no delicacy ; it was long in the carcass, flat-sided, large-boned, and clumsy ; 

 the ewes weighed eighteen or twenty pounds the quarter, the wethers 

 from twenty to thirty pounds. The wool measured from ten to fifteen 

 inches in the length of the staple, and was variable as to quality, but 

 generally coarse. These sheep were slow feeders, and returned little 

 profit. 



Such was the stock common to Leicestershire and the adjacent coun- 

 ties, on which Mr. Bakewell began his course of experiments ; in the 

 prosecution of which he violated all the old axioms of his day, and pro- 

 ceeded upon principles totally at variance with those by which the 

 breeders had previously regulated their practice. They aimed at size, 

 irrespective of symmetry and aptitude to latten ; and at heavy fleeces, 

 considering weight of wool as of primary importance. Mr. Bakewell 

 on the contrary regarded symmetry and aptitude to fatten as first-rate 

 qualities ; he found these to be inherent in small, not in large heavy- 

 boned sheep, which latter consumed an extravagant abundance of food 

 without returning an adequate profit; whereas the smaller sheep he fonnd 

 to increase more rapidly in weight, proportionately, even upon a less 

 consumption of diet, llis experience had also taught him another point, 

 vi/., that sheep carrying a heavy fleece had always less aptitude to fatten, 

 and were far slower in ripening, than those whose fleece was moderate ; 

 and he considered symmetry and early ripening to be of more import- 

 ance than the loss of a few pounds in the fleece. In short, he considered 

 tliat the value of the carcass was the first object to be attended to in 

 breeding of sheep; and he looked upon the fleece as of secondary im- 

 portance — not that the loss of two or three pounds in the fleece was 

 not an object, but still lie thought that if to preserve this the farmer 

 not only lost ten or twelve pounds of mutton by it, but had to feed his 

 sheep for twelve or eighteen months longer tlian he ouglit, he would 

 pay dearly for his three pounds of wool extra. Mr. Bakewell was right; 

 and on these principles he addressed himself to his task. 



The improved Leicesters are not adapted for scanty pasturage, over 



